The rapidly growing portable electronics market, e.g. cellular phones, laptop computers, tablets, networked watches, and PDAs, are an integral facet of modern life. The multitude of portable devices represents one of the largest potential market opportunities for next generation protection systems. These consumer electronic devices have unique attributes that have significant impacts on accessories, like protection systems, in that the accessories must be generally small, lightweight, and rich in functionality and they must be produced in high volumes at relatively low cost.
As an extension of the consumer electronic device, the electronics accessory industry has witnessed ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace.
Current accessory suppliers are struggling to accommodate the increasing environmental fragility and ergonomic expectations in the near future. The current technologies, materials, equipment, and structures offer challenges to the basic assembly of these new accessories while still not adequately addressing ergonomic, protection, and cost concerns.
As the size of electronic devices continues to decrease, electronic devices become increasingly fragile being sensitive to heat, shock, pressure, moisture, and other environmental conditions, which commonly leads to failure of the device. There exists a definite need for a protection system capable of providing both protection to an electronic device from environmental conditions and ergonomic ease of use.
In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is critical that answers be found for these problems. Additionally, the need to reduce costs, reduce production time, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures, adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Thus, a need remains for protection systems capable of providing high degrees of protection and ergonomics at a lower price point. Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.